WRAP Helps To Push Plastic Bottle Recycling Up The Local Authority Agenda
20 March 2007
WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is celebrating the success of its recent series of seminars on plastic bottle recycling.
The four seminars were used as a launch vehicle for ‘Target Ten’, WRAP’s initiative to increase the UK’s average kerbside scheme performance for plastic bottles from 5kg per household per year to 10kg per household per year. They also provided an opportunity for WRAP to highlight its plans for a planned plastic bottle led Recycle Now consumer campaign, scheduled to take place later this year.
With more than 170 delegates from local authorities, waste management companies and the recycling industry attending, the seminars provided a platform to debate some of the pertinent issues facing local authorities when considering introducing or enhancing plastic bottle recycling schemes. Delegates were also brought up to speed with the latest industry developments in capital reprocessing investment for PET and HDPE.
The first half of each seminar focused on infrastructure, with issues raised including integration, contamination, end markets, cost and capacity. Communications was the focus for the second half of each seminar when handling the media, evaluation, language barriers, budgets and internal communications were just a few of the issues discussed.
As well as presentations from WRAP and Recoup, a range of local authority and waste management company representatives shared their views and experiences of plastic bottle recycling.
Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at WRAP, comments: “The timing of these seminars is ideal as many of the attending local authorities are currently reviewing their plastic bottle collection plans. The feedback we had following the seminars was very positive, with delegates finding the presentations from local authorities and waste management companies particularly useful. It’s clear that there is a lot of good practice already taking place in plastic bottle recycling and we were very encouraged that delegates left the seminars with plans to talk to other local authorities and share good practice.
“The environmental benefit of plastic bottle recycling also resonated strongly with delegates, some of whom were unaware that closed loop recycling can yield a saving of at least 1.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per tonne of plastic recycled.”
WRAP has taken feedback from the seminars on board and, as part of the Target Ten programme, has made a series of local authority and waste management case studies available on its website www.wrap.org.uk/plasticbottlecollection. In addition, WRAP has also produced a series of free online plastic bottle recycling Good Practice Guides, covering topics such as kerbside infrastructure, bring scheme infrastructure, handling end markets and communications.
Paul continues:
“With the forthcoming launch of the plastic bottle focused Recycle Now campaign, the time is right for local authorities to embrace the opportunities that plastic bottle recycling presents and address the potential increase in public demand that is likely to result from the new campaign. Recycle Now has been very successful in helping local authorities to develop a recognisable brand for their recycling communications material and this will continue when we make design templates, advertising and print media for the plastic bottles campaign available for local authorities to download closer to the time of launch.
“Plastic bottle collection rates have grown at a tremendous rate over the last three years, for which local authorities must be congratulated, but the UK is still throwing away more than four bottles in every five, so it is essential this increase in recycling is accelerated. The combined impact of the Target Ten initiative, the Recycle Now campaign and the investment in new UK capacity for the closed-loop recycling of plastic bottles will all play a vital role in helping us to reach our target 10 kg per household per year kerbside recycling rate.”
All of the seminar presentations will be available to download shortly from www.wrap.org.uk/plasticbottlecollection.
The four seminars were used as a launch vehicle for ‘Target Ten’, WRAP’s initiative to increase the UK’s average kerbside scheme performance for plastic bottles from 5kg per household per year to 10kg per household per year. They also provided an opportunity for WRAP to highlight its plans for a planned plastic bottle led Recycle Now consumer campaign, scheduled to take place later this year.
With more than 170 delegates from local authorities, waste management companies and the recycling industry attending, the seminars provided a platform to debate some of the pertinent issues facing local authorities when considering introducing or enhancing plastic bottle recycling schemes. Delegates were also brought up to speed with the latest industry developments in capital reprocessing investment for PET and HDPE.
The first half of each seminar focused on infrastructure, with issues raised including integration, contamination, end markets, cost and capacity. Communications was the focus for the second half of each seminar when handling the media, evaluation, language barriers, budgets and internal communications were just a few of the issues discussed.
As well as presentations from WRAP and Recoup, a range of local authority and waste management company representatives shared their views and experiences of plastic bottle recycling.
Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at WRAP, comments: “The timing of these seminars is ideal as many of the attending local authorities are currently reviewing their plastic bottle collection plans. The feedback we had following the seminars was very positive, with delegates finding the presentations from local authorities and waste management companies particularly useful. It’s clear that there is a lot of good practice already taking place in plastic bottle recycling and we were very encouraged that delegates left the seminars with plans to talk to other local authorities and share good practice.
“The environmental benefit of plastic bottle recycling also resonated strongly with delegates, some of whom were unaware that closed loop recycling can yield a saving of at least 1.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per tonne of plastic recycled.”
WRAP has taken feedback from the seminars on board and, as part of the Target Ten programme, has made a series of local authority and waste management case studies available on its website www.wrap.org.uk/plasticbottlecollection. In addition, WRAP has also produced a series of free online plastic bottle recycling Good Practice Guides, covering topics such as kerbside infrastructure, bring scheme infrastructure, handling end markets and communications.
Paul continues:
“With the forthcoming launch of the plastic bottle focused Recycle Now campaign, the time is right for local authorities to embrace the opportunities that plastic bottle recycling presents and address the potential increase in public demand that is likely to result from the new campaign. Recycle Now has been very successful in helping local authorities to develop a recognisable brand for their recycling communications material and this will continue when we make design templates, advertising and print media for the plastic bottles campaign available for local authorities to download closer to the time of launch.
“Plastic bottle collection rates have grown at a tremendous rate over the last three years, for which local authorities must be congratulated, but the UK is still throwing away more than four bottles in every five, so it is essential this increase in recycling is accelerated. The combined impact of the Target Ten initiative, the Recycle Now campaign and the investment in new UK capacity for the closed-loop recycling of plastic bottles will all play a vital role in helping us to reach our target 10 kg per household per year kerbside recycling rate.”
All of the seminar presentations will be available to download shortly from www.wrap.org.uk/plasticbottlecollection.
Editor's notes:
1. WRAP works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle more things more often. This helps to minimise landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment.
2. Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
4. More information on all of WRAP’s programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
2. Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
4. More information on all of WRAP’s programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
